Amazon EC2 Installation guide
1. Launching an instance
In order to launch RapidDeploy (referred as RD), a few settings need to be configured on the AWS console as follows. The instructions for launching an instance differ depending on where you launch from. Initially you will launch the instance from the AWS Marketplace.
- Select the IBM WebSphere Product based on your requirements in the AWS Marketplace;
- Click on the link to go to that versions page in AWS Marketplace;
- Check the ‘
Other Versions‘ link to see other versions available (you can select the actual version later). - Under ‘
Pricing Details‘ panel select your Region and either Hourly or Yearly fees. - Click on the ‘
Continue‘, button to go to the ‘1-Click Launch‘ tab on the configuration page; - On the ‘
Software Pricing‘ panel choose your instance type and pricing type; - On the ‘
Version‘ panel, select the fix pack version you require; - On the ‘
Region‘ panel, select the Region you require; - On the ‘
EC2 Instance Type‘ panel, choose the instance type.TheM1.mediumtype or larger is recommended when running IBM HTTP Server.M1.smallis the minimal requirement. Larger instances may be required based on the number of IBM HTTP servers etc required and the expected resource use of each; - On the ‘
VPC Settings‘ panel Configure the VPC settings to your requirements or leave the defaults; - On the ‘
Security Group‘ panel, specify the security group. The security group needs to permit to following ports [note that the internal firewall will be configured later to permit only ports used by WebSphere]:Port 22 to connect via SSH (enabled by default),
Port 9090 to reach RapidDeploy web console,
Port 20000 and 20100 to open for RapidDeploy Remote Agent (optional),- If you don’t already have a security group as above, go to your EC2 Control Panel and select ‘
Security Groups‘ under ‘Network & Security‘ - Click ‘
Create Security Group‘ button - To open all ports, Click ‘
Add Rule‘. - In the ‘
Type‘ dropdown, Specify ‘All TCP‘ or your preferred configuration. - In the ‘
Source‘ dropdown, Specify ‘Anywhere‘ or your preferred configuration.
- If you don’t already have a security group as above, go to your EC2 Control Panel and select ‘
- On the ‘
Key Pair‘ panel, select a key pair to use. You will need this key later to connect to the instance. - Scroll back to the top of the page and click ‘
Accept Software Terms and Launch with 1-Click‘. - The Instance will be Launched.
- Select the IBM WAS AMI based on your requirements;
- Right click on the AMI, or from the drop down menu, choose the ‘
Launch’ option; - On the ‘
Choose Instance Type‘ tab, choose the instance type.TheM1.mediumtype or larger is recommended when running IBM HTTP Server.M1.smallis the minimal requirement. Larger instances may be required based on the number of IBM HTTP servers etc required and the expected resource use of each; Click ‘Next: Configure Instance Details‘. - On the ‘
Configure Instance‘ tab Configure the instance to your requirements or leave the defaults. Click ‘Next: Add Storage‘. - On the ‘
Add Storage‘ tab, add additional storage as required or leave as default. Click ‘Next: Tag Instance‘. - On the ‘
Tag Instance‘ tab, Tag your instance with a suitable name. Click ‘Next: Configure Security Group'. - On the ‘
Configure Security Group‘ tab, specify the security group. The security group needs to permit to following ports:Port 22 to connect via SSH (enabled by default), Port 9090 to reach RapidDeploy web console, Port 20000 and 20100 to open for RapidDeploy Remote Agent (optional),
- To open all ports, Click ‘
Add Rule‘. - In the ‘
Type‘ dropdown, Specify ‘All TCP‘ or your preferred configuration. - In the ‘
Source‘ dropdown, Specify ‘Anywhere‘ or your preferred configuration.
- To open all ports, Click ‘
- Click ‘
Review and Launch‘. - Review settings, then click ‘
Launch‘. - Add your key pair, Check the ‘Acknowledge key file access’ checkbox and click ‘
Launch Instance‘.
2. Getting started with RapidDeploy
- Changing RapidDeploy initial password
For security reasons, you will need to change the default password (default value is ‘
[instance-id]‘) for usermvadmin. This will be requested the first time only when you log in to the RapidDeploy server. - RapidDeploy serverRapidDeploy server and agent will start up automatically when you start your instance. You can access the web console on
http://[publicip]:9090/MidVisionNote: make sure you have port 9090 open in your Security group when trying to access RapidDeploy web console. For the first time, you can set the password for the default username “mvadmin“. You can prevent auto starting RapidDeploy on instance startup by removing it from the system chkconfig list.[midvision@ ] sudo chkconfig --del rapiddeploystart - Starting and stopping RapidDeploy
To restart RapidDeploy manually from the filesystem, use the rapiddeploy linux service. The RapidDeploy version is 4.0.7. RapidDeploy home is located at
/var/rd/midvisionExample usage:[midvision@ ] sudo service rapiddeploystart start
[midvision@ ] sudo service rapiddeploystart stopThe RapidDeploy server uses an in-memory database, so your RapidDeploy framework needs to be shut down properly to save your work. This happens when the instance is stopping or when calling the stop service manually from the command line. Note that on instance restart, unsaved data will be lost.
4. Accessing the web console
4.1 Access the RapidDeploy Web Console
RapidDeploy server and agent will start up automatically when you start your instance. You can access the web console on:
http://[publicip]:9090/MidVision
Note: make sure you have port 9090 open in your Security group when trying to access RapidDeploy web console. For the first time, you can set the password for the default username ” mvadmin “. You can prevent auto starting RapidDeploy on instance startup by removing it from the system chkconfig list.
[midvision@ ] systemctl disable rapiddeploystart.service
5. Maintaining the installation
- midvision: This is the default user, which you can log in as. It is permitted to use all SUDO rights. To switch to the root user, type “
sudo su“. - root: This is the superuser in linux systems. You can log in as any other user without using passwords. E.g: “
su ec2-user“, “su midvision“ - ec2-user: This user does not have SUDO rights. If you want to switch back to root user, type “
exit“, this will take you back to the previous user session.
RHEL instances are shipped with a firewall by default to protect your machine. For security reasons, the instance is only accessible via SSH (port 22) at first, so further ports can be opened on the firewall as needed. You will need to open all the ports in this internal firewall, which you have open in your Security group. There is a script placed in the user home of midvision (/home/midvision), which is also the starting location when logged in. You will need to be the root user to run this script. Example usage:
[midvision@ ] sudo ./open-firewall.sh 9090 Open firewall port 9090 iptables: Saving firewall rules to /etc/sysconfig/iptables:[ OK ]
There are a few scripts and other files in midvision and root users home directory, which will need to remain unchanged in order to keep the provided scripts working. There are a set of scripts in midvision home directory. Those scripts are executed when logging into the instance controlled by .bash_profile, but you can also execute them manually whenever they are needed. There are some hidden files used as well,.firstrun indicates that the setup wizard has already run once, .host file is needed to determine the previously bound hostname to WebSphere service.
6. Troubleshooting
6.1 Session loss during setup
If you lose your SSH connection to the target instance during the first run setup script execution (e.g. as a result of a network problem), we advise you to delete and recreate the EC2 instance and run the script again.
6.4 Contacting MidVision support
Please visit our support website.